Funny story time! I used to work at a cupcake shop here in Nashville, which I definitely think helped develop my love for creating recipes. It's actually how I met Christine, my lifting partner in crime, who will be competing with me at my fist competition in July! The first time we met, she actually trained me on how to ice cupcakes, how funny is that? And now we are competing in a fitness competition together! :P Anyways, one of my favorite cupcakes at the cupcake shop was the Salted Caramel cupcake, so I thought I would make my own protein version of that recipe and put it on the blog for you guys! Enjoy!

SALTED CARAMEL PROTEIN CUPCAKES
309kcal: 6F/30C/36P (for all 6 cupcakes)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash 50g banana in a bowl. If it's not completely ripe already, microwave for 5-10 seconds so it's super mushy.
3. Add to banana bowl: whey, egg whites, baking powder, coconut flour, SFFF pudding mix, 15g Walden Farms caramel syrup, and stevia to taste. Mix it all together.
4. Add water slowly until desired consistency is reached (cupcake batter consistency - see video for visual).
5. Place 6 baking cups in muffin pan. Distribute batter evenly between the 6 cups.
6. Bake cupcakes for 10-15 minutes, checking every few minutes towards the end until you stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean.
7. While it's baking, make the icing by combining 132g greek or fat free cream cheese, a little bit of WF caramel syrup (maybe 5g or so - you don't want it to be watery), and stevia to taste.
8. Ice cupcakes, top with a pretzel and whatever other aesthetic touches you'd like. I added a little bit of real chocolate and caramel syrup to make it pretty. Enjoy! :)

- C

Alright guys, today is my first day of prep! I've got a few tools in my arsenal from my low carb life years ago that I'll be pulling out to help me through when the calories get really low. Right now, my calories are relatively high, for me at least. I ended my reverse diet on calories that were so high, I felt uncomfortably stuffed by the end of each day (which is actually a good thing). I'm very thankful that Layne got me to that point as it will make my cut that much easier.

I plan on documenting this cut just as I did the reverse diets when I started this blog--with very specific numbers so you guys can get a clear picture of what's going on. I'm not one to hide my macros. Obviously, you shouldn't use my macros as yours because my body/metabolism/LBM/age/activity level/etc.etc. is way different than yours. I have never seen anyone document numbers in a chart like this and I think it will be pretty cool to share!

I'll be updating the blog every Thursday morning with these numbers. Just wanted to give you guys a quick update! Have an awesome week! :)

<3,
- C